Screening for risk of cardiovascular disease among officer grade bank employees of Gulbarga city

CONTEXT: The risk of cardiovascular disease was assessed among officer grade bank employees of Gulbarga city, as they face a large of amount of work related stress. AIMS: (1) To assess the risk of cardiovascular disease among the study group. (2) To propose a similar population based heart disease screening strategy for other groups. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Out of the 242 officers in 26 banks in Gulbarga city (nationalized and private), 59 officers were willing to be a part of the study. This population was initially screened by a self-assessment scale, consisting of 10 questions relating to past history, family history, and lifestyle practices. Scoring system was used for the analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The initial part of this cross-sectional study was conducted during April 2006. Forty nine officers who scored ≥3 were recruited for preliminary assessment, which consists of physical examination, Electrocardiogram (ECG) and some invasive investigations (fasting blood sugar and cholesterol). Those found at further risk, were recruited for detailed assessment. 15 officers who qualified were screened for specific cardiac markers using advanced investigations Lipoprotein (Lp) a, homocysteine, C reactive protein (CRP), lipid profile measurements, Treadmill test (TMT) / Echocardiogram (ECHO), and Glucose tolerance test (GTT). All the five officers who were found at the highest level of risk were referred to the tertiary health care centre. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Microsoft excel was used to compute the frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: Among the 59 employees examined in the study, 49 were found to be at risk for cardiovascular diseases (comprising ~83% of the assessed population) and thus qualified to the second round of assessment. Only 31 officers underwent the second round of assessment, out of whom 15 (48.4%) were found to be at higher risk and thus were subjected to the third round. Only five officers (of the 15) underwent the third round of assessment and all were found to be utmost at risk for CVDs and were duly referred to a tertiary health care centre. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows the application of a risk assessment model, towards predicting the risk for cardiovascular diseases among a group of high risk population. Similar models could be used for the risk assessment of other population groups.